West Coast Eagles premiership player Ashley Hansen drops out of race to coach his former club

West Coast premiership player Ash Hansen is the latest in a string of candidates to drop out of the race to coach his former club. According to reports on Wednesday night, Hansen has informed the Eagles intends to remain in Melbourne for family reasons and continue his work as forwards coach at Carlton. Hansen joins a sprawling list that includes former teammates and fellow highly-regarded assistants to shoulder arms to the Eagles’ coaching role as they continue to hunt for a full-time replacement for Adam Simpson. It means interim coach and former Eagle Jarrad Schofield is now the red-hot favourite to coach the club from next season. Schofield has already won two of his five games in charge and his side enter Sunday’s clash with Hansen’s Carlton as surprise favourites. Dean Cox, Nathan Buckley, Josh Carr and Jaymie Graham have also knocked back the chance to be apart of the Eagles’ process. Greater Western Sydney assistant Brett Montgomery and Collingwood assistant Scott Selwood — a West Coast best-and-fairest winner — are considered among the best remaining assistants in the market. Hansen coached Footscray to a VFL premiership in 2016 in a huge boost to his stocks as an assistant, before heading to the Blues to work under Michael Voss. He is the man in charge of a forward line that includes Coleman Medal-winners Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay. The Herald Sun report suggests Hansen’s family has a strong preference to remain in Victoria. The Eagles last month appointed a selection panel to track down their next senior coach. The group includes chief executive and former Adelaide boss Don Pyke, football manager Gavin Bell, board member and former Eagle Rowan Jones, director Jan Cooper and Geelong premiership player Harry Taylor. The West Australian also revealed exclusively last week the club had employed Gerard Daniels director Lloyd Smith to help lead the search. Smith is the same man that recruited Pyke to replace long-time CEO Trevor Nisbett last season. More to come.